Equities
Investors turned cautious as global markets action diverged, with Japan’s Nikkei tumbling over interest rate policy concerns and Chinese stocks soaring on even more stimulus measures.
Wall Street’s main indexes opened lower ahead of numerous job reports and comments from U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers through the week, including Chair Jerome Powell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.18 per cent to 42,235.06, the S&P 500 slid 0.20 per cent to 5,726.74, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.25 per cent to 18,074.83 at the bell.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index opened 0.2 per cent lower at 23,901.47, weighed down by consumer discretionary and mining stocks.
In Canada, bond markets are closed for Truth and Reconciliation Day.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Carnival Corp., which has raised its annual profit forecast for the third time, buoyed by continued strength in demand for cruise vacations as well as higher pricing.
“You’ve got more signs of stagnating eurozone economic activity and that’s probably one of the factors weighing on the European equities,” said Elias Haddad, senior markets strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was last down 1.01 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.68 per cent, Germany’s DAX gave back 0.77 per cent and France’s CAC 40 dropped 1.77 per cent.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed 4.8 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.43 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices declined and were on track to fall for the third month in a row as a strong supply outlook and questions around demand outweighed fears that Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Yemen could escalate conflict in the Middle East.
Brent crude futures for December delivery fell 0.2 per cent to US$71.38 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost 0.2 per cent to US$68.06 a barrel.
“We suspect that some oil market participants will look past this escalation given that there still has not been a major physical supply disruption and Iran has not demonstrated any appetite to enter this nearly year-long conflict,” said Helima Croft of RBC Capital Markets.
In other commodities, spot gold eased 0.6 per cent to US$2,641.50 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures slipped 0.2 per cent to US$2,663.50.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 73.91 US cents to 74.12 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.17 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, advanced 0.06 per cent to 100.44.
The euro gained 0.11 per cent to US$1.1178. The British pound rose 0.07 per cent to US$1.3388.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 3.768 per cent.
Other business news
The union representing longshore workers at the Port of Montreal have begun a three-day strike at two terminals. The Maritime Employers Association confirmed the work stoppage began this morning at 7 a.m. ET at the Viau and Maisonneuve Termont terminals.
Economic news
China PMI and current account surplus
Japan industrial production and retail sales
(9:45 a.m. ET) U.S. Chicago PMI for September.
(1:55 p.m. ET) U.S. Fed chair Jerome Powell gives an address at the National Association for Business Economics conference.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press